‘Kids would peep in, ask how’s Shaktiman...now he’s gone’

Wounded during a BJP protest, Dehradun Police horse dies days after he was fitted with prosthetic limb; accused MLA says he will build a memorial

FOR THE decade that he was with the Dehradun’s Mounted Police, Shaktiman trotted in and out of his stable that bore his name plate, his year of joining and his price. On Wednesday, he lay buried near his stable under the stars, the summer night breeze carrying the sweet smell of incense burnt in his memory.

Shaktiman lived the last month of his life in public glare, and his death was no different. Ever since news broke of his death of medical complications at 5.30 pm, politicians, animal rights activists, media and curious onlookers all thronged the Police Lines at Race Course in Dehradun.

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat was an early visitor and BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, who allegedly hit Shaktiman at a rally on March 14 causing multiple fractures, came later and, in an ironic twist, promised to name a park after Shaktiman with a memorial dedicated to him.

“If we come to power, then we will name a park after him. I am very saddened at Shaktiman’s death but I am not responsible for it. The videos that showed me hitting him were doctored. If I am found even one per cent guilty of hurting him, then my leg should be cut off,” said Joshi, who was arrested last month after an FIR was registered against him.

“I have animals at home, my daughter has visited Shaktiman every day since the accident. People should not play politics over the body of an animal but then in Congress’s history, they have killed even their own family members... toh ek bezubaan jaanwar kya cheez hai (so what’s a helpless animal to them),” he said.

Joshi then turned the question of his role in causing Shaktiman’s death to questioning the Uttarakhand government on what steps they had taken after the accident to provide protective gear to horses of the Mounted Police. “The UP government has taken steps to give their police horses protective gear like leg guards but what has Uttarakhand done? My daughter has also written to the state’s DGP on this issue,” he said.

Harish Rawat, meanwhile, called Shaktiman “a brave soldier of Uttarakhand” who died

Devyani Onial Shaktiman’s body before the burial, Wednesday.